Allylic and benzylic oxidation reactions with sodium chlorite

Samuel M. Silvestre and Jorge A. R. Salvador

*
Laborat orio de Qumica Farmac^ eutica, Faculdade de Farm acia, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua do Norte,
3000-295 Coimbra, Portugal
Received 31 October 2006; revised 29 December 2006; accepted 8 January 2007
Available online 12 January 2007
AbstractVarious allylic and benzylic substrates were selectively oxidized to the corresponding enones in good yields using sodiumchlorite,
either in combination with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in stoichiometric conditions, or associated with N-hydroxyphthalimide as catalyst. These
oxidation reactions were effectively and economically performed under mild, transition-metal free conditions and therefore the dual challenge
of cost effectiveness and benign nature of the processes was met with.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Allylic and benzylic oxidations are industrially important
synthetic processes due to their wide variety of applications
in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and ne chemicals.
1
Relevant examples are the oxidation of D
5
-steroids to the
corresponding biologically interesting D
5
-7-ketone deriva-
tives
2
and the benzylic oxidation of xanthene to xanthone.
3
Traditionally, chromium(VI)-based reagents such as CrO
3

pyridine complex,
4
CrO
3
and 3,5-dimethylpyrazole,
5
pyr-
idinium chlorochromate (PCC),
6
pyridinium dichromate
(PDC),
7
PDCtert-butyl hydroperoxide,
8
sodiumchromate,
9
sodium dichromate in acetic acid,
10
pyridinium uorochro-
mate,
11
3,5-dimethylpyrazolium uorochromate (VI)
12
and
a combination of an N-hydroxydicarboxylic acid imide with
a chromium containing oxidant
13
have been used to perform
these oxidations. However, the use of large excess quantities
of both reagents and volume of solvent in most of these
procedures, along with the difcult work-up of the environ-
mentally hazardous chromium residues makes such proce-
dures inconvenient on a commercial scale.
Other classical, stoichiometric oxidative processes involve
the use of manganese dioxide, potassium permanganate or
selenium dioxide.
14
A variety of catalytic methods for allylic and benzylic
oxidations have been reported and generally peroxide-based
oxidants have been the reagents of choice. Despite the fact
that alkyl hydroperoxides are the most used peroxides in
these reactions, the use of hydrogen peroxide associated
with metal catalysts was also reported.
15
Due to its impor-
tance, it is also worth to mention the use of molecular oxy-
gen, combined with transition-metal catalysts,
16
to perform
these oxidation reactions.
Of particular environmental and economical interest is the
use of tert-butyl hydroperoxide combined with different
types of metal catalysts.
17
Despite the good yields reported
with CrO
3
,
18
2,4-dimethylpentane-2,4-diol cyclic chro-
mate,
19
PDC,
20
Cr(CO)
6
,
21
RuCl
2
(PPh
3
)
3
22
and RuCl
3
,
23
the toxicity of these chromium compounds and the high
cost of the ruthenium catalysts motivated the search for
cheaper and more environmentally acceptable methods
based on the use of copper
24
and cobalt
25
catalysts. Recently,
the use of other metal catalysts such as dirhodium(II)
caprolactamate,
26
manganese(II) complexes
27
and manga-
nese(III) acetate
28
in combination with tert-butyl hydro-
peroxide has also been reported.
A common difculty associated with the homogeneous pro-
cedures reported so far is the separation step required for the
removal of the catalysts, which cannot be easily recovered
and reused.
The immobilization of inorganic reagents and catalysts use-
ful in organic reactions on heterogeneous supports is a very
important area in clean technology
29
and led researchers to
report the use of chromium-based heterogeneous catalysts
in combination with tert-butyl hydroperoxide to perform
these oxidations.
30
We have recently reported the use of
cobalt(II), copper(II), manganese(II) and vanadium(II)
catalysts in heterogeneous forms for the allylic oxidation
Keywords: Sodium chlorite; Allylic oxidation; Benzylic oxidation; Transi-
tion-metal free.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +351 239859950; fax: +351 239827126;
e-mail: salvador@ci.uc.pt
00404020/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tet.2007.01.012
Tetrahedron 63 (2007) 24392445
of unsaturated steroids.
31
Jurado-Gonzalez et al.
32
reported
the allylic and benzylic oxidations using tert-butyl hydroper-
oxide and catalytic amounts of cobalt(II) alkyl phosphonate
modied silica.
The increasing concern about environment and the need for
green reagents have prompted research on the use of bismuth
compounds as catalysts combined with tert-butyl hydro-
peroxide for allylic
33
and benzylic
34
oxidation reactions.
The development of metal-free ecofriendly synthetic trans-
formations is an area of current interest.
35
These methods
avoid the use of toxic and expensive metals and seem to
be especially attractive for the preparation of compounds
that do not tolerate metal contamination, such as pharma-
ceutical products. The use of oxygen in the presence of
N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) and an organic free-radical
initiator
36
such as dibenzoyl peroxide,
37
acetaldehyde,
38
a,a
0
-azobisisobutyronitrile,
39
anthraquinones
40
and acridine
yellow/Br
2
41
has been reported to be suitable for these oxi-
dations. Recently, a procedure using sodium hypochlorite
(household laundry bleach) in combination with aqueous
tert-butyl hydroperoxide (70% or less) has also been re-
ported to perform allylic and benzylic oxidations.
42
Sodium chlorite is a very cheap oxidant and has been exten-
sively used in water treatment and as a bleaching agent in
paper and textile industries.
43
In the eld of synthetic
organic chemistry, the most known use of sodium chlorite
is in the efcient chemoselective oxidation of aldehydes to
the corresponding carboxylic acids.
44
More recently increas-
ing attention has been focused on its use in organic synthesis,
for example, in the oxidation of primary alcohols
45
and
epoxidation of olens.
46
In this work,
47
we report the use of sodium chlorite either in
combination with tert-butyl hydroperoxide, in stoichiomet-
ric conditions, or with N-hydroxyphthalimide as catalyst
for mild, transition-metal free, allylic and benzylic oxidation
reactions.
2. Results and discussion
2.1. Allylic and benzylic oxidations mediated by
NaClO
2
/tert-butyl hydroperoxide
The recent growing interest in the use of sodium chlorite as
a cheap oxidizing agent in organic chemistry motivated us to
study its utility in allylic and benzylic oxidation reactions.
Firstly, we explored its use in combination with tert-butyl
hydroperoxide and this association revealed to be practical
and useful to accomplish the referred oxidations under
mild conditions. Thus, using this system it was possible to
effectively perform the transition-metal free allylic oxida-
tion of D
5
-steroids 14 and (+)-valencene 5 and the benzylic
oxidation of substrates 1113 (Schemes 1 and 2 and Tables 1
and 2). In general, the reactions required 1.2 equiv of
NaClO
2
and 5 equiv of tert-butyl hydroperoxide, relative
to the substrate, and could be performed using a homo-
geneous solvent mixture of CH
3
CN and water, at 50

C.
AcO
R
R
1
AcO
R
R
1
O
1................R,R
1
=O................6
2...........R=C
8
H
17
;R
1
=H..........7
3..........R=COCH
3
;R
1
=H........8
HO HO O
O O
4 9
O
5 10
Scheme 1.
O O
O
O
O
11
12
13
15
16
17
O O
O
14 18
Scheme 2.
In a rst set of experiments, dehydroepiandrosterone acetate
1 was used as a model substrate under various experimental
conditions. Blank experiments revealed that NaClO
2
or tert-
butyl hydroperoxide as the sole oxidant led only to traces
of products after 50 h of reaction. Among the screened
solvents, the best results were obtained with mixtures of
CH
3
CN and water or with ethyl acetate (Table 1, entries
24 and 6). Using CH
3
CN or 1,4-dioxane/H
2
O (3:1, v/v)
as solvent, longer reaction times were observed (Table 1,
entries 1 and 5). Decreasing the amount of tert-butyl hydro-
peroxide to 1 equiv (per mmol of substrate) led to a longer
reaction time (Table 1, entry 7). Reaction temperature was
found to be a critical parameter. At 25

C the relative rate
2440 S. M. Silvestre, J. A. R. Salvador / Tetrahedron 63 (2007) 24392445
of conversion was very slow(Table 1, entry 8) in comparison
to the reactions performed at 50

C and therefore we consid-
ered the use of this temperature for the study of the process.
In the presence of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA),
a metal ion sequestering agent, no signicant changes were
seen in the reaction indicating that this allylic oxidation was
not being catalyzed by the presence of adventitious metal
ions in the solvent (Table 1, entry 9).
Due to solubility reasons, the oxidation of substrate 2 was
performed using CH
3
CN as the solvent and the 7-ketone
derivative 7 was obtained in good yield (Table 2, entry 1).
When applied to substrate 3, this new oxidative system
afforded product 8 in 76% yield (Table 2, entry 2).
The chemoselective allylic oxidation in the presence of a sec-
ondary hydroxyl group was studied using dehydroepiandro-
sterone 4 as the substrate and the corresponding 7-ketone
derivative 9 was obtained with good chemoselectivity (65%
isolated yield) (Table 2, entry 3). Asimilar oxidation was per-
formed on (+)-valencene 5 under these conditions and the
sesquiterpenoid nootkatone 10 was the major reaction prod-
uct (38%yield) (Table 2, entry 4). In agreement with these re-
sults, when performed on a larger scale, only a small decrease
in the reaction rate was observed (Table 2, entry 5).
In spite of longer reaction times, benzylic compounds, xan-
thene 11, uorene 12 and diphenylmethane 13 were oxidized
to the corresponding benzylic ketones, xanthone 15, uor-
enone 16 and benzophenone 17 (Scheme 2) in high yields
(Table 2, entries 68).
The mechanism of these oxidation reactions is worth con-
sidering. An experiment was conducted under the same
reaction conditions (Section 4.2; Table 1, entry 2) but in
the presence of a radical inhibitor, butylated hydroxy
toluene (BHT, 20 mol %), and it was observed that the
oxidation was inhibited until BHT was consumed. This
information implied that this process occurred via free-
radical species.
Recently, Geng et al. demonstrated the formation of chlorine
dioxide radical (ClO
2
) by heating NaClO
2
at 5565

C in
CH
3
CN/H
2
O (4:1).
46
As our conditions are similar, we
also considered the formation of that compound. Thus,
the mixture of NaClO
2
(1.2 mmol) in CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1)
(12 mL) was heated at 50

C during 15 h, and the UV
spectrum of the resulting cooled solution showed the
characteristic absorption peak of ClO
2
(l
max
359 nm),
43,46
in agreement with the previously reported results.
46
Furthermore, the presence of ClO
2
radical was conrmed
by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) experiments.
48
As this reaction was not catalyzed by metal ions (Table 1,
entry 9) and did not occur using only NaClO
2
or tert-butyl
hydroperoxide (blank experiments), the process was most
likely initiated by the homolytic cleavage of tert-butyl
hydroperoxide by ClO
2
radicals, originating tert-butyl-
peroxy radical. This reactive intermediate initiates the
allylic (and benzylic) hydrogen abstraction leading to the
formation of the olen radical, which is further oxidized
via a radical chain mechanism to the corresponding
enone.
42b
Table 2. Allylic and benzylic oxidations by NaClO
2
/t-BuOOH
Entry Substrate/mmol NaClO
2
a
/mmol t-BuOOH
b
/mmol Solvent (v/v) Temp/

C Time/h Product Isolated yield

c
/%
1 2/0.5 0.6 5 CH
3
CN 60 80 7 66
d
2 3/0.25 0.3 1.25 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 28 8 76
3 4/1 1.2 5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 20 9 65
d
4 5/1 1.2 5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 22 10 38
d
5 1/6 7.2 30 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 26 6 76
6 11/0.5 0.6 2.5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 40 15 89
7 12/0.5 0.6 2.5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 64 16 90
8 13/0.5 0.6 2.5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 52 17 86
a
Solid, 80% (Aldrich).
b
Aqueous solution, 70% (Aldrich).
c
Traces of starting material and a by-product are visible on TLC plates but not detectable in
1
H NMR spectrum (300 MHz).
d
Recovered by ash chromatography (ethyl acetate/light petroleum, bp 4060

C).
Table 1. Allylic oxidation of dehydroepiandrosterone acetate 1 by NaClO
2
/t-BuOOH
Entry Substrate/mmol NaClO
2
a
/mmol t-BuOOH
b
/mmol Solvent (v/v) Temp/

C Time/h Product Isolated yield

d
/%
1 1/0.5 0.6 2.5 CH
3
CN 50 44 6 77
2 1/0.25 0.3 1.25 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 18 6 75
3 1/0.25 0.3 1.25 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 20 6 79
4 1/0.5 0.6 2.5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (1:1) 50 23 6 73
5 1/0.25 0.3 1.25 1,4-Dioxane/H
2
O (3:1) 50 72 6 79
6 1/0.25 0.3 1.25 Ethyl acetate 50 24 6 81
7 1/0.5 0.6 0.5 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 96 6 74
8 1/0.25 0.5 1.25 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 25 168 6 72
9 1/0.25 0.3 1.25 CH
3
CN/H
2
O
c
(3:1) 50 24 6 72
a
Solid, 80% (Aldrich).
b
Aqueous solution, 70% (Aldrich).
c
EDTA aqueous solution (510
4
M).
d
Traces of starting material and a by-product are visible on TLC plates but not detectable in
1
H NMR spectrum (300 MHz).
2441 S. M. Silvestre, J. A. R. Salvador / Tetrahedron 63 (2007) 24392445
2.2. Allylic and benzylic oxidations mediated by
NaClO
2
, catalyzed by N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI)
Due to the interesting results obtained with the system
NaClO
2
/tert-butyl hydroperoxide, we decided to study the
use of NaClO
2
as the sole oxidant in a catalytic process.
Knowing the fact that chlorine dioxide is a reasonable
disproportionate product of NaClO
2
when heated and an
inherent radical species itself,
46
although not enough active
to perform allylic oxidation, we considered the possible as-
sociation of NaClO
2
with a radical catalyst such as NHPI as
an effective oxidizing system. Actually, this combination
resulted in a powerful transition-metal free catalytic oxida-
tive system for these allylic and benzylic oxidations. Thus,
the allylic oxidation of D
5
-steroids 14 and (+)-valencene
5 and the benzylic oxidation of substrates 1114 (Schemes
1 and 2 and Tables 3 and 4) have been readily performed
under mild conditions.
In general, the reactions were very fast and required
1.5 equiv of NaClO
2
and 0.1 equiv of NHPI, relative to the
substrate, and could be performed using a homogeneous
solvent mixture of CH
3
CN and water, at 50

C.
The catalyst NHPI in the absence of NaClO
2
was not active,
as revealed by the blank experiments.
The best solvent for this system was the mixture of CH
3
CN
and water (usually 2:1 or 3:1, v/v) (Table 3, entries 1 and 2),
however, dioxane/H
2
O (3:1, v/v) could also be used,
although a longer reaction time has been observed (Table 3,
entry 3). The use of N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHSI) in place
of NHPI led to an increase in the reaction time and lower
yield (Table 3, entry 4). 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-
1-oxyl (TEMPO) has no catalytic activity under these con-
ditions (Table 3, entry 5). The reduction of the amount of
NHPI to 0.05 equiv led to a signicant reduction in the reac-
tion rate (Table 3, entry 6). The study of the effect of temper-
ature in this reaction allowed us to observe that signicantly
shortened times were required at 50

C (Table 3, entries 2
and 7) and for this reason we studied the process using this
temperature.
The presence of EDTA in the reaction system did not change
the results signicantly, indicating that this reaction occurs
without the inuence of traces of metal ions in the solvent
(Table 3, entry 8). This reaction is also not inuenced by
the molecular oxygen present in air, as the results were not
changed when the reaction was performed under nitrogen
atmosphere (Table 3, entry 9).
The use of NaOCl (5% aqueous solution; household laundry
bleach) instead of NaClO
2
within the same reaction con-
ditions led to some reactivity, however, low selectivity was
observed.
When applied to substrates 2 and 3, this new oxidative
system afforded products 7 and 8 in 60 and 76% yields,
respectively (Table 4, entries 1 and 2).
The reaction of dehydroepiandrosterone 4 led to the cor-
responding 7-ketone derivative 9 in moderate yield. The
Table 3. Allylic oxidation of dehydroepiandrosterone acetate 1 by NaClO
2
/organic catalyst
Entry Substrate/mmol NaClO
2
a
/mmol Catalyst/mmol Solvent (v/v) Temp/

C Time/h Product Isolated yield

d
/%
1 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 6 6 89
2 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 6 6 75
3 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 1,4-Dioxane/H
2
O (3:1) 50 14 6 84
4 1/0.25 0.375 NHSI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 8 6 72
5 1/0.25 0.375 TEMPO/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 40
6 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.0125 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 24 6 76
7 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 25 144 6 78
8 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O
b
(2:1) 50 7 6 77
9 1/0.25 0.375 NHPI/0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O
c
(2:1) 50 6 6 82
a
Solid, 80% (Aldrich).
b
EDTA aqueous solution (510
4
M).
c
Performed under N
2
atmosphere.
d
Traces of starting material and a by-product are visible on TLC plates but not detectable in
1
H NMR spectrum (300 MHz).
Table 4. Allylic and benzylic oxidations by NaClO
2
/NHPI
Entry Substrate/mmol NaClO
2
a
/mmol NHPI/mmol Solvent (v/v) Temp/

C Time/h Product Isolated yield

b
/%
1 2/0.5 1.5 0.05 1,4-Dioxane/H
2
O (3:1) 50 25 7 60
c
2 3/0.25 0.375 0.025 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 7 8 76
3 4/1 1.5 0.1 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 11 9 50
c
4 5/1 1.5 0.1 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 15 10 36
c
5 1/3 4.5 0.3 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) 50 8 6 76
6 11/0.5 0.75 0.05 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 2 15 91
7 12/0.5 0.75 0.05 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 1 16 90
8 13/0.5 0.75 0.05 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 6 17 89
9 14/0.5 0.75 0.05 CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1) 50 18 18 75
a
Solid, 80% (Aldrich).
b
Traces of starting material and a by-product are visible on TLC plates but not detectable in
1
H NMR spectrum (300 MHz).
c
Recovered by ash chromatography (ethyl acetate/light petroleum, bp 4060

C).
2442 S. M. Silvestre, J. A. R. Salvador / Tetrahedron 63 (2007) 24392445
higher reactivity of this system is probably the reason for the
moderate chemoselectivity observed in the oxidation of this
substrate (Table 4, entry 3).
The sesquiterpenoid nootkatone 10 was the major product
(36% yield) of the allylic oxidation of (+)-valencene 5 under
these conditions (Table 4, entry 4). When performed on
a larger scale using dehydroepiandrosterone 1 as substrate,
this procedure allowed the obtention of product 6 in 76%
yield and with only a small decrease in the reaction rate
(Table 4, entry 5).
When applied to benzylic substrates such as xanthene 11,
uorene 12 and diphenylmethane 13 this procedure allowed
excellent results. Thus, the corresponding benzylic ketones,
xanthone 15, uorenone 16 and benzophenone 17 (Scheme
2) were obtained in very high yields and within short re-
action times (Table 4, entries 68). The benzylic oxidation
of isochromane 14 led to 1-isochromanone 18 in 75% yield
(Table 4, entry 9).
When performed under the same reaction conditions (Sec-
tion 4.3; Table 3, entry 1), but in the presence of BHT
(20 mol %), this process was inhibited until the radical
inhibitor consumption, which indicates that these oxidations
were also mediated by free-radical species.
It is known that NHPI is a radical catalyst, mediating various
oxidation reactions by O
2
via the formation of the phthal-
imide N-oxyl (PINO) radical intermediate.
49
This catalyst
is commonly associated with metallic or organic free-radical
initiators to perform oxidation reactions using O
2
as the
oxidant.
49
We demonstrated that this reaction was not catalyzed by
metal ions (Table 3, entry 8) and did not occur using only
NaClO
2
or NHPI catalyst (blank experiments). In addition,
we conrmed by UV and ESR experiments that ClO
2
was
generated by heating NaClO
2
at 50

C. ESR studies of the
mixture of NaClO
2
(0.375 mmol) and NHPI (0.025 mmol)
in CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1) (3 mL) at room temperature revealed
the simultaneous presence of ClO
2
48
and PINO.
50
Therefore, considering these observations, we propose that
under these reaction conditions, NaClO
2
originated ClO
2
radicals, which should react with NHPI leading to the forma-
tion of PINO radical. This reactive intermediate can abstract
allylic (and benzylic) hydrogens
49
originating the olen radi-
cal, which is in turn oxidized via a radical chain mechanism
to the corresponding enone.
49
3. Conclusions
In summary, allylic and benzylic oxidation reactions can be
cheaply and effectively performed using sodium chlorite
either in combination with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in
stoichiometric conditions, or with N-hydroxyphthalimide
as catalyst under mild, transition-metal free conditions.
These very simple, economical and ecofriendly procedures
led to good yields and selectivities and, therefore, should
nd a large use in organic synthesis.
4. Experimental
4.1. General
Substrates 14, 1214, NaClO
2
, t-BuOOH, NHPI, NHSI,
TEMPO and BHT were commercially available from
SigmaAldrich Co. (+)-Valencene 5 and xanthene 11 were
purchased from Fluka. Reaction solvents were distilled
before use, according to standard procedures. Kieselgel
60HF
254
/Kieselgel 60G was used for TLC analysis. Melting
points were determined with a Reichert microscope appara-
tus and were uncorrected. IR spectral analyses were
performed in a JASCO FT/IR-420 spectrophotometer.
1
H
and
13
C NMR spectra were recorded on a Bruker AMX
300 spectrometer, in CDCl
3
solution with Me
4
Si as internal
standard. UV spectral analyses were performed in a Bausch
& Lomb Spectronic 2000 spectrophotometer. ESR measure-
ments were carried out on a Bruker EMX 1144 spectrometer
(X-band) with a 100 kHz eld modulation.
4.2. General procedure for allylic and benzylic oxida-
tions mediated by NaClO
2
/tert-butyl hydroperoxide
In a typical reaction, to a solution of the substrate (e.g.,
17-oxoandrost-5-en-3b-yl acetate 1, 82.6 mg/0.25 mmol)
in CH
3
CN/H
2
O (3:1, v/v) (3 mL), tert-butyl hydroperoxide
(0.18 mL/1.25 mmol, 70% aqueous solution, Aldrich) was
added followed by the slow addition of NaClO
2
(33.92 mg/0.3 mmol, 80%, Aldrich). After 18 h under
magnetic stirring at 50

C, the reaction was complete
(TLC control). The reaction mixture was poured into sodium
sulte solution (10% aqueous) and extracted with diethyl
ether. The extract was washed with aqueous saturated solu-
tion of NaHCO
3
, water, dried and evaporated to dryness to
give 7,17-dioxoandrost-5-en-3b-yl acetate 6 (62.6 mg,
75% yield). Crystallization from methanol afforded 67%
of pure product; mp 180183

C (MeOH); lit.
51
184

C; IR
(ATR): 1244, 1627, 1671, 1721, 1738, 2922, 3020 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 0.89 (s, 3H, 18-CH
3
), 1.24
(s, 3H, 19-CH
3
), 2.06 (s, 3H, CH
3
CO), 4.72 (m, 1H,
3a-CH), 5.76 (m, 1H, 6-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz):
d 71.90 (C-3), 126.43 (C-6), 164.79 (C-5), 170.19
(CH
3
CO), 200.66 (C-7), 220.14 (C-17).
4.3. General procedure for allylic and benzylic
oxidations mediated by NaClO
2
, catalyzed by NHPI
In a typical reaction, to a solution of the substrate (e.g.,
17-oxoandrost-5-en-3b-yl acetate 1, 82.6 mg/0.25 mmol)
in CH
3
CN/H
2
O (2:1, v/v) (3 mL), NHPI (4.1 mg/
0.025 mmol, 97%, Aldrich) was added, followed by the
slow addition of NaClO
2
(42.4 mg/0.375 mmol, 80%,
Aldrich). After 6 h under magnetic stirring at 50

C, the
reaction was complete (TLC control). The reaction mixture
was poured into sodium sulte solution (10% aqueous) and
extracted with diethyl ether. The extract was washed with
aqueous saturated solution of NaHCO
3
, water, dried
and evaporated to dryness to give 7,17-dioxoandrost-5-en-
3b-yl acetate 6 (76.6 mg, 89% yield). Crystallization from
methanol afforded 78% of pure product.
4.3.1. Compound 7. Mp 155157

C (MeOH); lit.
52
158
159

C; IR (ATR): 1244, 1628, 1670, 1727, 2950,
2443 S. M. Silvestre, J. A. R. Salvador / Tetrahedron 63 (2007) 24392445
3025 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 0.68 (s, 3H,
18-CH
3
), 0.86 (d, J6.6 Hz, 6H, 26-CH
3
, 27-CH
3
), 0.92
(d, J6.5 Hz, 3H, 21-CH
3
), 1.20 (s, 3H, 19-CH
3
), 2.03 (s,
3H, CH
3
CO), 4.69 (m, 1H, 3a-CH), 5.70 (m, 1H, 6-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz): d 72.17 (C-3), 126.64 (C-6),
163.82 (C-5), 170.22 (CH
3
CO), 201.87 (C-7).
4.3.2. Compound 8. Mp 150153

C (MeOH); lit.
53
152
153

C; IR (ATR): 1244, 1630, 1669, 1704, 1727, 2941,
3037 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 0.66 (s, 3H,
18-CH
3
), 1.21 (s, 3H, 19-CH
3
), 2.06 (s, 3H, CH
3
CO), 2.14
(s, 3H, 21-CH
3
), 4.72 (m, 1H, 3a-CH), 5.73 (m, 1H, 6-
CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz): d 72.00 (C-3), 126.41
(C-6), 164.13 (C-5), 170.23 (CH
3
CO), 201.11 (C-7),
209.64 (C-20).
4.3.3. Compound 9. Mp 229232

C (MeOH); lit.
53
232.5
233

C; IR (ATR): 1298, 1630, 1649, 1719, 2941, 3025,
3480 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 0.90 (s, 3H,
18-CH
3
), 1.23 (s, 3H, 19-CH
3
), 3.68 (m, 1H, 3a-CH), 5.75
(m, 1H, 6-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz): d 70.2 (C-3),
125.7 (C-6), 166.2 (C-5), 200.7 (C-7), 219.8 (C-17).
4.3.4. Compound 10. Mp 3134

C; lit.
54
3335

C; IR
(ATR): 1617, 1663, 2933, 3029, 3079 cm
1
;
1
H NMR
(CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 0.94 (d, J6.8 Hz, 3H, 15-CH
3
),
1.09 (s, 3H, 14-CH
3
), 1.71 (s, 3H, 13-CH
3
), 4.70 (m, 2H,
12-CH
2
), 5.74 (s, 1H, 1-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz):
d 109.12 (C-12), 124.44 (C-1), 148.87 (C-11), 170.82
(C-10), 199.79 (C-2).
4.3.5. Compound 15. Mp 169171

C (PhH); lit.
55
172
173

C; IR (ATR): 757, 1145, 1345, 1456, 1479, 1605,
1655, 2937, 3079 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz):
d 7.38 (t, J7.9 Hz, 2H, 2-CH, 7-CH), 7.49 (d, J8.4 Hz,
2H, 4-CH, 5-CH), 7.73 (m, 2H, 3-CH, 6-CH), 8.34 (dd,
J7.9, 1.7 Hz, 2H, 1-CH, 8-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
,
75 MHz): d 117.95 (C-4, C-5), 121.81 (C-8a, C-9a),
123.87 (C-2, C-7), 126.70 (C-1, C-8), 134.78 (C-3, C-6),
156.14 (C-4a, C-10a), 177.19 (C-9).
4.3.6. Compound 16. Mp 7982

C (MeOH); lit.
55
81
82

C; IR (ATR): 1297, 1449, 1598, 1712, 3060 cm
1
;
1
H
NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 7.28 (m, 2H, 2-CH, 7-CH),
7.48 (m, 4H, 3-CH, 4-CH, 5-CH, 6-CH), 7.65 (d,
J7.4 Hz, 2H, 1-CH, 8-CH);
13
C NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz):
d 120.27 (C-4, C-5), 124.27 (C-1, C-8), 129.03 (C-2, C-7),
134.09 (C-8a, C-9a), 134.65 (C-3, C-6), 144.38 (C-4a,
C-4b), 193.89 (C-9).
4.3.7. Compound 17. Mp 4647.5

C (MeOH); lit.
56
47
49

C; IR (ATR): 810, 1276, 1447, 1594, 1650,
3057 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 7.46 (m, 4H,
4-CH, 6-CH, 10-CH, 12-CH), 7.57 (m, 2H, 5-CH, 11-CH),
7.80, (m, 4H, 3-CH, 7-CH, 9-CH, 13-CH);
13
C NMR
(CDCl
3
, 75 MHz): d 128.19 (C-4, C-6, C-10, C-12),
129.96 (C-3, C-7, C-9, C-13), 132.34 (C-5, C-11), 137.48
(C-2, C-8), 196.66 (C-1).
4.3.8. Compound 18. Colourless oil;
57
IR (lm): 695, 747,
1092, 1121, 1244, 1295, 1394, 1459, 1607, 1721, 2951,
3070 cm
1
;
1
H NMR (CDCl
3
, 300 MHz): d 3.05 (t,
J6 Hz, 2H, 4-CH
2
), 4.53 (t, J6 Hz, 2H, 3-CH
2
), 7.27
(d, J7.6 Hz, 1H, 5-CH), 7.39 (t, J7.5 Hz, 1H, 7-CH),
7.54 (m, 1H, 6-CH), 8.08 (d, J7.7 Hz, 1H, 8-CH);
13
C
NMR (CDCl
3
, 75 MHz): d 27.64 (C-4), 67.19 (C-3),
125.11, 127.14, 127.52, 130.18, 133.55, 139.44 (arom.),
165.02 (C-1).
Acknowledgements
J.A.R.S. thanks Universidade de Coimbra for nancial
support. S.M.S. thanks Fundac~ao para a Ci^encia e Tecnolo-
gia for a grant (SFRH/BD/11087/2002). We kindly acknowl-
edge the Center of NMR Spectroscopy and Center for
Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra,
Portugal (Professor C. Geraldes) and Professor J. Laranjinha
(Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of
Coimbra, Portugal) for the ESR experiments.
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